People are showing more interest in water and snow sports. Popular water and snow sports include sailing, windsurfing, water skiing and snowboarding. Most water and snow sports require the use of board type sports equipment, such as aquaplanes, snowboards, and boats. Since people often need to move the aquaplanes, snowboards, and other sports equipment when they are performing water and snow sports, the requirements for such sports equipment are light weight and enough firmness to resist the collision and withstand user's weight. Besides, because water sports and snow sports are mostly performed outdoors, the sports equipment also should be able to withstand the tests of the harsh environment in the nature. Therefore, water and snow sports equipment must be made of materials that meet the requirements for resistance to acid, alkali and seawater erosion, and can withstand the long-term exposure to UV light from the sun, low temperature, high temperature, etc., to ensure long-term use.
All the time, it is very difficult for sports equipment to take into account both lightweight and firmness. For example, a board has a volume of 120 cubic centimeters, but its weight is about 9 kilograms, that is, the material weight per cubic decimeter can only be 75 grams. Therefore, the materials used are all materials with very low density. It appears very difficult to ensure that the product is hard. The current manufacturing methods and the materials selected are held back by light weight or firmness and often have to sacrifice one in order to satisfy the other.
As a major production method of water and snow equipment at present, fiber reinforced thermosetting engineering plastic is used for the surface of the board core made of foam material to obtain a thin casing wrapping the core. The casing and the core are bonded together to form a firm and integral body. It adopts the structural principle of eggs, i.e., although the casing is very thin, it still has extraordinary firmness due to an integral structure. The equipment produced by using this principle may have a relatively light weight under the precondition of a large volume and certain hardness.
Such existing equipment has defects in materials, structural design and production method and is bulky, making storage and handling difficult. The main problems are as follows:
Firstly, the existing equipment has to sacrifice firmness in order to achieve a light weight. As a result, the casing is thin, which is liable to damage by external force. However, because water sports and snow sports are intense sports, it is difficult to avoid collision. Consequently, the existing water and snow sports equipment is not durable.
Secondly, the casing of the existing equipment is made of fiber reinforced thermosetting engineering plastic. The production of thermosetting plastic is highly dependent on manual operation, has very strict requirements for the level of skill and concentration of the operators and the blending accuracy of chemicals, and is sensitive to weather, temperature, humidity and other factors. A small mistake may lead to defective products. Moreover, once thermosetting plastic completes chemical reactions and is hardened, it cannot be corrected any more. Defective products will face the result of overall scrapping. The existing production methods have the disadvantages of cost control such as a high product rejection rate, and overall scrapping of defective products.
Thirdly, the existing equipment is based on the structural principle of eggs. The egg has an integral structure. Although the eggshell is thin, it can have a certain degree of firmness. However, if the thin shell of the existing equipment is damaged, no matter how small the damaged area is, the integral structure will be lost. The damaged area is the source of subsequent damage expansion, and the equipment will eventually face the result of overall scrapping.
Fourthly, such equipment is bulky in general, it is difficult to take care of both its head and tail during moving. As it is easy to damage due to its thin shell, it has to be wrapped with heavy protective materials during transport and carriage. The packaging will make it more bulky and heavier, resulting in inconvenience of transportation and carrying.